By Adrian Quinn, PRO Greenmount Association

When the committee members planned the Autumn Farm Walk for the 30 October they did not anticipate that snow would cover most of the North a few days before the event. According to the records Northern Ireland had been experiencing its coldest October for many decades. Fortunately on the day the snow had disappeared and the skies cleared for over 150 people who braved the cold conditions to visit the farms of Robert and Thomas Craig at Carse Hall, Ballykelly and Boyd and Michael Kane, Limavady.

Following registration and a refreshing cup of tea, Mark McCollum (Association President) welcomed everyone to the event and handed over to Thomas Craig who gave a brief introduction to the farm. Since buying the farm the brothers have made significant improvements, none more so than the current accommodation for the 160 Pedigree Holstein cows. A key philosophy of the farm is ‘attention to detail’ and this was evident in many aspects throughout the farm from regular soil testing for nutrients and pH to growing of crops specifically for an end use to ensiling of different crops in the one silage pit, to reduce forage losses when feeding.  Another key philosophy of the farm is that ‘technology aids efficiency’. The farm makes use of a lot of technical appliances to improve all round efficiency, from water collection systems, movement sensors on cows and even a fully automatic calf feeding system. This has seen the dairy cows produce annual yields in excess of 10,000 litres.

After a very welcome lunch in Ballykelly Presbyterian Church Hall, Ballykelly, which was conveniently located, we then moved on to the farm of Boyd and Michael Kane.

The afternoon visit was just as exciting as the morning. The Kane brothers run an impressive 650 acre arable operation with a rotation including wheat, barley, oil seed rape, forage maize and potatoes. They have been making great progress in reducing energy costs on the farm through a biomass boiler which burns woodchip. The boiler not only provides most of the heat to dry the farms stored grain, but also provides heat and hot water for the attached B & B and two self catering flats, which are run in addition to the farm.  Michael has also established Willow on the farm. He aims to use half of the harvested crop for farm use and sell the rest, and generate some additional income for the farm business. The farm also utilises many precision farming techniques. This included Yield mapping, the use of a variable rate fertiliser sower and pH monitoring of all fields which not only aims to improve the overall quality of the end crop but also to increase efficiency with regard to fertiliser and herbicide usage.

The Greenmount Association would like to thank the sponsors of the morning refreshments, United Feeds, the ladies of Ballykelly Presbyterian Church who provided lunch and both families for their inputs before and on the day. The Association would also like to wish the Craig and Kane families every success in the future.

Greenmount Association President Mark McCollum (Centre) presents Robert (left) and Thomas Craig (right) with a gift following the Greenmount Association’s farm walk at Carse Hall farm

Dairy Technologist and Greenmount Association Secretary Mark Scott (right) gives a talk to some of the Greenmount Association members who visited the farm of Boyd and Michael Kane as part of the Greenmount Association autumn farm walk

Mrs Karen Kane shows Greenmount Association farm walk attendees the self catering accommodation on the farm of Boyd and Michael Kane, Limavady